Monday deadline for public comment on San Pedro's Ponte Vista development

Monday is the deadline to submit public comments on revised plans for San Pedro's Ponte Vista housing development.

First proposed as a 2,300-home project in 2005, the project has been the subject of numerous studies, meetings and revisions.

The task has been to come up with a plan that would replace the long-vacant and dilapidated Navy houses on 61.5 acres of property along Western Avenue across from Green Hills Memorial Park.

But community concerns have persisted over a number of issues - primarily density and traffic - in any version that has been put forth.

In November, the city of Los Angeles released an environmental impact report on the latest proposal from a new developer that further downsizes the plan.

It calls for either 1,135 or 830 homes, with the latter being the choice of many of the project's longtime critics.

The developer - iStar Financial, which purchased the property in 2010 - would face fewer costs with the larger number, but company representatives have said the project would still be economically viable with as few as 830 homes.

Also studied in the draft environmental report was a 500-unit, single-family home option that the developer has said would not be economically viable.

Proposed as a gated community, the revised Ponte Vista would feature single-family homes with yards, town houses with private garages, single- and multistory condominiums and apartments.

Dropping out of the latest version is a public park and dedicated senior-only homes. A jogging-walking path around the perimeter would be open to the public.

The property at 26900 S. Western Ave. once was home to hundreds of Navy shipyard workers. When the shipyard closed, the property was declared surplus by the federal government. Bisno Development paid $88 million in an online auction in early 2005 to purchase most of the property and later bought out other owners, bringing the total original purchase price to $125 million.

Public comments on the draft environmental report are due by 4 p.m. Monday.

Those comments will be reviewed and included in a final report to be released later this year.